Episode 14

85 mins

Leigh Blashki - Non-Duality, Authenticity and Practicality

This episode is a recording of a conversation between Rane Bowen, Jo Stewart, and Leigh Blashki.Leigh Blashki is a legendary figure in Australian Yoga. He is also an incredibly engaging speaker and has a deep understanding and love of these practices.

As you will hear in this podcast, Leigh has had influence and training from a number of traditions and teachers, including Sri Yogendra, Swami Gitananda, A.G. Mohan and Dr. Richard Miller. He has taught yoga and meditation for over 40 years and had over 350 graduates from his Yoga teacher training and Yoga therapy training courses.

He was a founding member of the Yoga Teachers Association of Australia, now known as Yoga Australia. He also founded the Australian Institute of Yoga Therapy, is a Past-President of Yoga Australia, a member of the Council of Advisors for Yoga Australia and the IAYT and also served the IAYT on their Standards, Accreditation and Certification Committees. Indeed, he has been instrumental in building the standards and professionalism of yoga in this country and is widely regarded as the father of yoga therapy in Australia.

In this episode, we discuss how Leigh found yoga, some of his key early teachers, as well as his current ones! We learn about how Leigh helped to establish Yoga Australia, and his work in developing the first Government accredited Yoga Training in this country.

He also discusses his work with iRest and shares some incredibly profound statements on being in the world and teaching with authenticity.

Picks of the WeekLeigh - In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself by John J Prendergast - http://amzn.to/2COv8hjRane - Journeys into Emptiness: Dogen, Merton, Jung, and the Quest for Transformation by Robert Jingen Gunn - http://amzn.to/2Fccgaq

Highlights

Click on a timecode to play from that time in the recording.

1:56 Leigh’s background2:30 How Leigh discovered yoga5:50 Leighs talks about his key teachers and mentors8:00 Kashmir Shaivsim and non-dual philosophy9:30 Yoga Nidra and iRest10:30 Space, Time and Being16:30 The inner resource, iRest and trauma sensitivity18:30 Leigh’s health challenges, and how yoga helps.24:30 Accepting the messenger.28:00 The beginnings of Yoga Australia29:30 Desiging the CAE course.32:30 Commonalities with Meditation Australia35:14 The role of Yoga Australia - improving the status and professional standing of Yoga and Yoga Therapy in Australia36:46 Scope of Practice37:51 Continuing professional development38:46 Yoga Alliance40:40 How the internet has affected yoga and the training of yoga teachers.43:30 Bringing the felt experience of teachers into their teaching.46:30 Is it possible for a teacher to be too individualised in their teaching?51:03 How has the yoga teacher training landscape evolved?53:33 Yoga teachers and mentorship55:05 “How many times have you felt like a fraud as a teacher? I have!”58:40 Don’t overthink it/overplanning.1:01:45 Having a basic structure for your classes1:04:20 Why are we doing the posture?1:07:24 Watch how they do their shoelaces.1:08:15 Leigh’s work around adrenal fatigue1:11:30 The difference between yoga practice and yoga therapy1:15:30 Personal practice - what is my mission and purpose?1:16:32 What is Leigh’s personal practice like? 1:19:24 Picks of the week.